


only one happiness

by LiveLaughLovex



Series: a collection of moments [3]
Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Established Relationship, F/M, Post-Episode: s02e10 Kil'ilua, Spoilers for Episode: s2e10 Kil'ilua
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-30
Updated: 2019-03-30
Packaged: 2019-12-26 15:55:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,720
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18285500
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LiveLaughLovex/pseuds/LiveLaughLovex
Summary: He brings it up the night (morning?) they return from North Korea. And, okay, perhaps this isn't the most normal time to have this conversation. But, really, when have they ever been normal?





	only one happiness

**Author's Note:**

> There is only one happiness in this world, to love and to be loved. - George Sand

It took Joe an hour to arrange for their return flight to Honolulu. The journey itself took just over eight. Steve slept through the whole thing, too exhausted and in pain to do much else. Kono, on the other hand, was too panicked to do anything other than sit upright and stare straight ahead, making sure the lieutenant commander’s chest continued to rise and fall.

Their first stop after touching down on Oahu was at King’s Medical Center. They went against Steve’s wishes, of course, because the naval officer insisted, more than once, that he was just fine. Kono didn’t want to outright call him a liar, but she was pretty sure people who were fine didn’t wince every time they so much as shifted in their seat.

Danny was the one who ultimately convinced him to go along with the plan, mostly because he was the only one not willing to just do whatever their boss wanted after everything Steve had been through in the past forty-eight hours or so. Kono was very relieved her friend was willing to take that responsibility on. She wasn’t in the right headspace to talk Steve into _anything_ at the moment, much less something he so obviously didn’t want to do.

They were kicked out of the exam room pretty much the second the doctor walked in, which was to be expected. It took the woman about half an hour to confidently declare that Steve wasn’t on the brink of death. Predictably, Kono spent much of that time pacing, while Danny spent it ranting. Chin, of course, just sat there silently, his eyes following her movements and the flying of Danny’s hands at the same time.

She knew she shouldn’t be anxious, especially not more so than she’d been on the flight – and the drive – over. They were in a hospital, after all. There were literally dozens of doctors in the building, and every last one of them was more than qualified to treat a few bruised and broken ribs. That wasn’t what was panicking her. It was the space itself.

Here was the thing: Kono absolutely hated hospitals. It didn’t surprise most people, given the fact that she was the daughter of one cop and the younger sister of four others, but that didn’t mean it was something she wanted to address all the time. She had her reasons. She didn’t talk about them. That was that.

Lori returned from the bathroom, sank into the seat next to Chin without question. Like him, she eyed the two other members of the team concernedly, obviously having no idea what she was supposed to do with them. Finally, though, she spoke, addressing only Kono. She probably figured it was a pointless mission, trying to get Danny to stop ranting. After all, she had known him long enough to learn better at that point.

“You should sit down,” she suggested timidly. And, okay, timid was something new for the new girl. Then again, so was flying into enemy territory to rescue the team leader, so Kono guessed she should go ahead and give Lori a pass for the slight tremor in her tone.

“I’m okay, Weston,” Kono assured the blonde, running a hand through her hair quickly. “I’ll be better when there’s news, that’s all.” She drew in a deep breath, let it slowly. “I’m hungry. I’m going to get something from one of the machines. Anyone want anything?” she questioned.

“I’ll come with you,” Danny offered, standing from his seat. It was less like an offer, though, and more like a statement. Knowing there was no possible way to avoid the inevitable conversation she was about to have, Kono simply nodded.

“He’s fine, you know,” Danny began as they made their way toward the machines she’d mentioned. “You heard the doctor back in Korea. He probably won’t even be here overnight.”

“I know,” Kono breathed, nodding her head jerkily. She heard what he was saying, she did. She just wasn’t sure she was quite ready to believe it. “This is more than physical wounds, though, Danny. This was his _parents’ killer_. _Jenna’s_ killer. And he just – he had Steve there for _hours_ , he _tortured_ him…” She shook her head, positive she didn’t want to follow that train of thought. “I don’t know if he’s going to come out of this one intact, Danny.”

“Whether he does, or he doesn’t, that’s for him to worry about, not you,” Danny insisted. “You want to worry about something, worry about being there for him. That’s what he’s really going to need from you.”

“We were supposed to have dinner with my parents tonight,” she murmured after a moment. He glanced over at her, a little surprised by the sudden change of subject, but he was also Danny; he was always willing to roll with the punches. “This is going to be a hell of a story to try and explain to my mother, isn’t it?”

“Eh.” Danny smirked, shrugged. “Do what we all do when we want to get our mothers off our backs. Blame it on Steve.”

“I can’t blame it on Steve; I want her to _like_ Steve,” she pointed out, amused. “I’ll come up with something. It’s not like it’s the first dinner I’ve skipped out on. She’s forgiven me every other time. Then again, one of my brothers misses _literally_ every other dinner, so…”

“Four out of five kids, though, not bad,” Danny mused.

“Yeah, to normal people. To my mother, we’re not allowed to count it as a family dinner if anyone’s missing. She likes to pretend we don’t have the jobs we do,” Kono explained. “So, if we have normal jobs, normal hours, why can’t we spare sixty minutes to share a meal with the woman who gave us all life?”

“Your mother might be more dramatic than mine,” Danny commented, mildly shocked by the revelation. “When you two do get around to having that meal with her, you need me to come up with some sort of emergency, pull you out a little early?”

Kono laughed quietly at that, sliding money into the slots on the vending machines and then pressing the correct buttons. “I’ll get back to you,” she promised, moving aside so he could grab something, as well.

The doctor was making her way out of Steve’s room when they reappeared. She flashed a relieved smile when she caught sight of them, then came to a stop in front of Chin and Lori’s seats. “Good, you’re all here. He’s going to be all right. Some bruised ribs, a few fractures. A couple weeks and plenty of rest, he’ll be good as new.”

She nodded at Kono. “He’s asked for you a few times, Officer Kalakaua. Figured I should come out here and get you before he did something stupid, like rip out his IV before it’s ready to come out. He was dehydrated,” she explained, correctly reading their panicked expressions. “Come on,” she offered, waving a hand in the direction of the room. “I’ll take you to him.”

Kono nodded, drew in a deep breath. She was panicking for no reason, she tried to reason with herself. The doctor – an extremely smart, extremely trained medical professional – had just told her, about half a dozen times, that he was just fine. For whatever reason, she wasn’t going to be able to believe that until she saw it for herself.

Steve was sitting up in the bed when she walked in, looking – okay, he looked a little worse for the wear, but he was breathing, smiling despite the fact that he had an obvious cut on his bottom lip, so she wasn’t going to comment on the fact that he had, in fact, looked better. She was too relieved to see him awake, alert, and not staring, unseeingly, straight through her. It was no time to crack any jokes.

That didn’t deter him, though. “So,” he said quietly once she’d taken a seat in the extremely uncomfortable plastic chair next to him, “I think we should probably go ahead and accept it. We’re not making that dinner with your parents.”

She laughed to stop herself from bursting into tears. That was the last thing he needed to deal with. The man wasn’t always sure what to do with crying women on his best day, much less one such as this.

“Yeah, I think she’ll get over it,” she managed. “We’re going to have to come up with one hell of a cover story, though. You know that, right? She was really looking forward to having the chance to interrogate you. She’s been interrogating _me_ about it for the past two weeks.”

 “Yeah.” Steve sighed. “Can’t exactly tell her the truth, can we?”

“Not unless you want to be court-marshaled,” she replied honestly. “Joe’s taking the heat for this one. He’d kill us if we messed with his master plan.”

“He’s not taking the heat for it,” Steve insisted, shaking his head adamantly.

“Okay,” Kono agreed dubiously. “You say all the time that the man partially raised you. Knowing him like you do, you really think you’ll be able to talk him out of it?”

“Yes.” Steve groaned, shook his head. “No. Damn it.”

“We’ll help him,” Kono assured him. “He did it to help a fellow SEAL. That’s got to mean _something._ ”

Steve laughed humorlessly. “It should. The U.S. Navy doesn’t think like you, though.”

“That’s a shame.” Kono glanced out the window, then met his eyes once again. “I’m sorry, you know. About Jenna. I know you two didn’t – you weren’t exactly _friends_ , there at the end, but… you shouldn’t have had to _see_ it when it happened. It shouldn’t have happened like it did.”

“She saved my life,” Steve murmured, his eyes glazing over as they left hers. “She had a pin – she gave it to me before, uh, before Wo Fat…” He trailed off, clearly unable to finish the thought. Kono couldn’t blame him. “She’s the reason I made it out of that bunker.”

“She showed her true colors there at the end, then,” Kono said in response, covering his hand with her own. “You were right about her, Steve. She was a good person. She was just put in a lot of tough places.” She drew in a deep breath. “We’re going to get him.”

“I know,” Steve assured her. “I know we will.” He glanced up when the door opened and his partner stepped inside. “So.” He cleared his throat. “I might’ve been a little wrong about it all working out.”

Danny nodded once. “You give me or this girl any more anxiety attacks this year, I’ll kick your ass myself, you understand?”

“I understand,” Steve promised, glancing over at Kono with a wry smile. “Sorry I worried you.”

“Oh, don’t let him deflect,” Kono smirked, shifting in her still-uncomfortable seat. “He was just as worried.”

“Yes, because explaining his death to my daughter – who, by the way, has some sort of hero worship for him – is nowhere on the list of things I want to do.” Danny sighed, shrugged. “I also didn’t want to have to hunt down a new partner. I’ve already gotten used to the dozens of ways you almost get me killed on a daily basis. Don’t want to have to learn anyone else’s insane quirks.”

Steve offered a shrug of himself. “You call them insane, I call them helpful.”

“Yeah, but I’m right,” Danny argued, making Kono smirk. She did the best she could to hide it behind her hand, but the amused and affronted look on her boyfriend’s face suggested he’d caught sight of it, anyhow. “You know, they said they’re going to spring you tonight, but I’m starting to think they should keep you, run some brain scans. See if your head’s more messed up than usual. Then again, might not be able to tell a difference.”

“Okay, Danny,” Kono chided, amused. She shook her head when the man looked over at her. “Don’t mock the recently injured.”

“Fine.” Danny shrugged. “You’re going to hear it all over again the second you’re healed, then.”

“Can’t wait,” Steve muttered drily, just as a nurse made her way in with his discharge papers. After he finished signing them, he glanced over at Kono. “I’m ready to go home. You want to go home?”

“Yeah,” Kono murmured in agreement. “Let’s go home.”

 

-o-o-o-o-

 

Home was, of course, his place. Hers had stairs and a narrow doorway, both things she didn’t want him to have to attempt to maneuver so soon after injury, even with the help of Chin and Danny. Also, his place was starting to feel more like home than her own, anyway.

God. They were only a month into this thing. That wasn’t something she should already be thinking, and yet, for whatever reason, it was.

“So,” Danny said after they’d managed to get Steve up the stairs and settled in his room. “You all good here, or do you need us to stick around?”

“No, we’re fine,” she assured him. “Go. I’ll call if we need anything. Promise.”

“All right,” Danny agreed, still obviously hesitant to do as told. “I was thinking I’d bring Gracie by tomorrow to see him, if you’re both up for it.”

“Yeah, of course,” Kono agreed without pause. “Just text us ahead of time, and we’ll be ready. She likes pizza, right?”

“She’s a human being,” Danny said, his tone suggesting the answer to such a question should be obvious. “No pineapple, though, because she’s also, well, _sane_.”

Kono smirked. “Noted. Now go, you two. Get home to the people you need to get home to.”

Danny and Chin both nodded and headed for the door. Kono was only slightly relieved Lori hadn’t come along with them. Okay, more than slightly. Explaining why she was staying and everyone else was leaving? That wouldn’t have been fun to do at two o’clock, on little to no sleep. Hell, it wasn’t going to be fun any other time, either, but certainly not right now. She didn’t want to keep going down that path, though, so she instead just made her way upstairs.

“Hey,” she said, walking into the room and smiling fondly at the sight of Steve there on the bed, propped up against a pile of pillows, watching some sort of documentary in a language she couldn’t quite understand but was relatively certain was German or something similar. “You are not allowed to almost die on me ever again, McGarrett. It doesn’t do wonders for my blood pressure.” She paused. “Well, it does, but not in a good way.”

“Technically, I didn’t almost die,” he pointed out.

“Yeah,” she acquiesced, “but I didn’t know that. Longest flight of my life.”

“Sorry,” he murmured. “I wouldn’t have gone, but…” He trailed off with a shrug. “She was my friend. I didn’t want to let her down.”

“You don’t have to explain. I know who you are.” Kono smiled sadly. “I always have. And I’m proud of you.” She blinked back tears, cleared her throat. “I’m proud of you every day, though. You don’t need to do something like this – ever again.” She sighed. “You’re going to do something like this again, aren’t you?”

“Probably,” he admitted. “One day.”

“Well. At least I’ll be prepared.” She drew in a deep breath and curled up on the spot next to him. “Hey, I know I don’t say it much, but – I do need you, Steve,” she breathed after a few moments of silence. “And I don’t know what I’d do without you. And I sure as hell don’t want to figure it out.”

“Neither do I,” he replied, glancing down at her. “Not for at least another seventy years or so.”

And, oh, okay, that was future talk. It most definitely was future talk. She could blame it on the pain medication he’d been sent home with, on the fact that he’d faced down his parents’ murderer less than twenty-four hours before. She wouldn’t, though, because she could see it in his eyes. He meant it.

“Maybe longer,” she offered, laying her head against his shoulder.

He pressed a kiss against her hair, sighing contentedly. “Definitely longer,” he murmured just before they both slipped into sleep.  

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so technically they didn't come out and say the words, but the quote still applies, all right? I have an idea for the next one, where, I swear to you, the words will be said. As always, please forgive any egregious errors I made regarding the plot of this episode. I will try to get the DVD sets soon so that I don't have to keep writing that.


End file.
